- pic: How to maximize weight training in a short time?
“Darrin, with my schedule, the only time I can lift is during lunch. I can do cardio in the mornings, but I don’t have a home gym so lunchtime is when I lift. The gym is 30 minutes away from home, but right across the street from my work. I only have 60 minutes for lunch, so I need to shower too. What should I do for my lifting routine?” - Mike
This is a common question. But it’s a good question and I’m psyched that you are going to make every effort to get in your lifts.
We can take cardio out of the mix, per your email. But what about lifting?
Most fitness experts say you need to keep your time in the gym to under an hour. I think this is a good target for most people, but it all depends on your current level of fitness and your goals. I’m not one of those guys who goes crazy when I hear someone spends 1.5 hours in the gym. The rule you may have heard about “45 minutes” is just a myth. No valid science supports that, because it varies based on too many variables to control in a scientific setting.
But in your case, you are tight on time with a hard deadline from your employer. You have only 60 minutes and you have to walk there, change into your gym clothes, warm up, workout, shower, and walk back.
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Let’s assume you take 4 minutes to walk there, 3 minutes to throw on shorts and a t-shirt, and 4 minutes back. Then make sure you do 5 minutes of muscle-specific warm ups. And a 10 minute shower. That leaves you 35 minutes to workout. I’m going to round it down to 30 minutes to ensure you get back on time.
With Only 30 Minutes Available A Day, Go With A Split Routine
The key is to do a split routine, not a full-body routine. I don’t know if you are a beginner or not. I usually recommend beginners do full-body routines. But I don’t think anyone can make good, consistent, long term progress on only 30 minute full body routines. (Being full-body, you can only do them 2 or 3 times a week because you need recovery days. Newbies can make progress for several weeks in 30 minutes a shot, but they will plateau if they don’t add more volume.)
Under this scenario, which is not ideal, I would recommend lifting 5 days a week.
I want to point out that normally, I only recommend 5-day routines to more advanced lifters. I also include a 5-day routine in my annual intermediate routines, but only for a brief period. In your case, you are looking for a long-term consistent solution (unless you change employers and have more flexibility with your time).
Even if you are a beginner, in what I’m recommending you won’t be overtraining. At 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week, that’s only 2.5 hrs a week lifting which is nowhere near over-training levels.
Day By Day Breakdown
Each day, pick a different major lift. I’ve talked about The Big 7 before. Pick one of those each day as your main lift. I know, you have only 5 days and there are 7 of The Big 7, so I suggest these: (more…)
